ITS IntegratorStudent Management

What are the Benefits of the Student Management System?

By May 25, 2022October 13th, 2023No Comments

Are you a higher education institution battling to manage all your operations across departments? Are you struggling with ensuring efficiency and productivity? Do you want to improve your stakeholder experience, and reduce frustrations and administration queries? If you answered yes to any of the abovementioned questions, you need to implement a student management system. Below we deep dive into what student management systems are, their benefits and what to look out for when choosing this kind of software.

Student Management Systems Overview

A student management system is often also referred to as a student information management system. This innovative software organises and coordinates all student data through one centralised data management system accessible by all departments. With this kind of on-premise or cloud-based student management system, lecturers can input, manage and access student data. The institution can also meet regulatory compliance needs. The system’s features also enable institutions to:

  • Seamlessly manage the student registration process.
  • Keep track of all student data and attendance
  • Provide students with easy access to their information.
  • Make it easy for your academic staff to manage marks.
  • Track student finances (payments, bursaries, loans etc.)

Student Management Systems were developed to tackle a number of the different challenges that higher education institutions face in relation to the effective management of data and information across departments. This system takes a consolidated approach to student management and integrates all elements needed for a higher education institution to function optimally and effectively. This includes integrating the following into one consolidated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution:

  •  Student result management system
  • Online student attendance management system
  • Student admissions management system
  • Student database management system software
  • Student success management system
  • Learning management system
  • Students information system

With the right kind of student management technology in place, higher education institutions can access student information faster, automate processes, and enhance efficiency, saving time, resources, and costs. This solution can reduce administrative burdens while improving staff productivity which only positively impacts the institution’s bottom line.

Benefits of Using Student Management System

From the above, it is clear that student management systems play an integral role in the successful management and running of a higher education institution or even school. Several other benefits can be experienced when implementing this kind of system management software solution. These include:

  • Enhances the overall performance of students with student attendance tracking – with the insight into student performance, higher education institutions can highlight any “red flags” concerning attendance and exam results and address these accordingly. This solution also enables students to access the information and coursework needed to meet their course requirements.
  • Helps to streamline all tasks – with this kind of system, many tasks can be automated and streamlined, saving time in terms of productivity and positively impacting the student experience.
  • Improved communication – a student management system allows all institution stakeholders, including students and parents, to access the information needed regarding elements related to registration, fees, course work and more which enhances communication.
  • Reduction of human labour, paper, and workloads while improving accuracy – with this software, your institution can reduce the cost of resources related to labour, paper and filing. All information is stored within the system, which is easily accessible at the click of a button.
  • Ensures efficient and effective timetabling – with this solution, you can efficiently and effectively schedule student and exam timetables and book rooms.

The above are just the tip of the iceberg regarding the benefits you can experience with this kind of student management software. You can also gain essential insights from detailed reporting into financial management, registration information, headcounts and more, which will enable you as a higher education institution to make informed business decisions.

Student Management System

What should you look for in a student management system?

Undoubtedly, a student management system is essential to the effective management of an institution, but like most things, not all software solutions are created equal. With so many different options on the market, it becomes difficult to choose a solution. We have put together four points to consider when choosing the right student management system for your higher education institution.

  1. Reporting is a must – the solution chosen should offer you detailed consolidated reporting across different departmental and operational systems. It is essential to have all the necessary information when making decisions relating to the number of students who can register for a course if new residences need to be built, the size of lecture rooms needed, lab equipment and more.
  2. Long-term service provider support – when choosing a student management system, look for an established business with industry experience that offers effective software support. Businesses who have been around for a long time are often more reliable, understand the market and can assist through the implementation process and beyond.
  3. A consolidated system that will grow as your business grows – scalability within a software solution like this is essential. You want the solution to be able to grow and adapt as your business grows. You also want to ensure that the chosen system can consolidate all operational and departmental systems, so you are working with a fully integrated system.
  4. Cloud-based deployment – look for a solution that offers cloud-based deployment; not only is this the way of the future, but it enhances accessibility and enables those who aren’t on campus to access the information they need from anywhere and at any time.  

One student management software solution that ticks all these boxes and more is Adapt IT Educations ITS Integrator. This innovative software has a student management module that serves all of an educational institution’s data management needs. Over the last 33 years, Adapt IT has been assisting institutions with moving away from siloed approaches to using solutions capable of managing the entire student lifecycle from registrations, academic data, and student finances to facilitating alumni initiatives and more. For more on this solution, click here.

Conclusion

Student management software solutions have become essential to ensure the smooth running of a higher education institution. This software solution takes the complexity out of ensuring operational efficiency across departments and enhances the student experience and overall productivity within the organisation. For more on how a student management system can impact your institution, download our Higher Education Whitepaper.

Thato Mthembu

Author Thato Mthembu

I am a strong sales professional with a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Law, Philosophy & Development Studies) from University of Natal and a Management Development Program (MDP) Certificate from University of Stellenbosch Business School. My specialty lies in effectively leveraging technology solutions within the cloud domain (Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service) to enable organisations across the public and private sectors to achieve their business outcomes. My vast experience within the legacy applications sphere enables me to effectively assist organisations consuming these technology platforms to craft a technology roadmap that maximises their current legacy investments, to effectively drive future growth.

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